Andrew Freedman is Co-Managing Partner and Chair of Shareholder Activism Practice at Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP.
Shareholder activism in the U.S. has maintained the strong momentum it gained during the final few months of 2023, particularly in the micro-cap space. With two weeks still left in June, 446 U.S. companies were subject to activist demands during the first half of 2024, representing an 8% increase in such demands compared to the first half of 2023, according to Diligent Market Intelligence (“Diligent”). Europe, on the other hand, saw a significant slowdown in shareholder activism during the same timeframe, with 48 companies subject to activist demands in the first half of 2024, representing almost a 50% decrease compared to the first half of 2023, according to Diligent. The APAC countries experienced modestly depressed levels of activism relative to the comparable period in 2023, according to Diligent. Notably, after an explosion of shareholder activism in Korea in 2023, the number of companies subject to activist demands in the first half of 2024 plummeted by over 40% relative to the first half of 2023.
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